Gun-cleaner.



E. P. FLETCHER.

GUN GLEANER. APPLICATION FILED APR. 1, 1908.

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Patented Nov. 17, 1908.

EDWARD F. FLETCHER, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

GUN-CLEANER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD F. FLETCHER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city and county of I/Vorcester, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gun-Cleaners, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is the construction of an improved device for cleaning tubes, and especially shot guns and other smooth-bore fire arms.

My invention for this purpose relates particularly to the means for expanding the cleaning member against the surface of the gun barrel or other tube within which it is introduced.

Referring to the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure l is a central longitudinal section of a gun cleaner made in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the resilient expanding. means. Fig. 3 is an end view of the same upon a larger scale. Fig. at is a face View of a sheet metal blank before being rolled into the cylindrical form which said means finally receives.

The reference numeral 1 desi nates the cleaning member which is preferab y a woven wire tubular device having within it the resilient expander 2. The woven wire cleaner 1 is terminally held by means of the thimbles 3 clamping the former between them and the ends of the expander; and these thimbles are thus caused to act by means of the bolt 4: penetrating all said parts and having the nut 5 on its threaded end. The head of said bolt is upset in the thimble at such end, while the threaded end is prolonged beyond the nut 5 far enough to permit it to be screwed into the internally threaded tubular rod usually employed for operating such cleaning devices. A second nut 6 is also mounted on this bolt for supporting the thimbles against such a degree of over-pressure as might cause them to interfere with the expanslon and contraction of the spring expander 2.

As shown in Fig. l, a sheet of metal blank of some resilient material as brass or steel, has its opposite edges formed with teeth 7 the crests of which are in line with the depressions of the teeth at the opposite edge. Hence, when this blank is bent into a cylin- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 1, 1908.

Patented Nov. 17, 1908.

Serial No. 424,548.

drical form, the teeth at each edge enter the spaces between the opposite teeth, as shown in Fig. 2. The teeth being acute and overlapping as described, but with a limited space between all uxtaposed teeth, the spring expander thus produced is capable of considerable contraction, and the cleaner can hence be forced into a gun barrel of slightly less bore at its muzzle than its breech, as in shotguns, and resiliently fit the entire length thereof.

To insure the proper fit of the cleaner throughout its entire periphery, I prefer to have the points of the teeth 7 given an outward bend slightly in excess of the general curvature of the expander, and also have the latter slightly elliptical in cross-section, as indicated in Fig. 3. Otherwise when the expander is compressed, said points would be forced inward and the cleaner fabric fail to be pressed into contact with the gun-barrel surface along such line. As it is now, however, the cleaner is elastically pressed into engagement with the interior of the barrel about its entire periphery, so that the foreing of the cleaner directly in the barrel to its breech, and then drawing it straight out, wipes the same entirely clean.

What I claim as my invention and for which I desire Letters Patent, is as follows, to wit 1. In a tube or gun cleaner, the combination with a holding device and a cleaning member, of an expander for the cleaning member consisting of an annular device having its periphery severed and resiliently pressed apart, and means for retaining the cleaning member and expander in place on the holding device.

2. In a tube or gun cleaner, the combination with a holding device and a cleaning member, of an expander for the cleaning member consisting of a resilient annular device severed in an irregular line through its periphery, and means for retaining the cleaning member and expander in place on the holding device.

8. In a tube or gun cleaner, the combination with a holding device and a cleaning member, of an expander for the cleaning member consisting of resilient sheet metal having two opposite edges denticulated, and curved into a substantially cylindrical shape with the denticulations intermeshing but not in contact, and means for retaining the cleaning member and expander in place on the holding device.

l. In a tube or gun cleaner, the combination With a holding device and a cleaning member, of an expander for the cleaning member consisting of an annular resilient sheet metal device severed along a zig-zag line, the points of the teeth thus formed being slightly exterior to the general outer surface of the expander, and means for retaining the cleaning member and expander in place on the holding device.

5. The combination With a bolt, of a pair of thimbles facing each other, nuts holding one thereof in place on the bolt and the other being rigid With the bolt, a Woven tubular cleaning member terminally within the thimbles, and an expander Within the cleaning member and thimbles, the expander being composed of a resilient tubular device severed along an irregular longitudinal line.

6. The combination with a holding device and a cleaning member, of an expander for the cleaning member consisting of a resilient tubular device severed along an undulatory line, and the transverse contour thereof being elliptical With the major axis cutting the line of severance, and means for retaining the cleaning member and expander in place on the holding device.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing invention, I have hereunto set my hand this 31st day of March, 1908.

EDWVARD F. FLETCHER.

Witnesses BURTON PAYNE GRAY, A. B. UPHAM. 

